That Darn Cat!
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: Sebastian the cat has been driving everyone crazy on their beach vacation. But what happens when there's an emergency situation, and only Sebastian realizes the urgency of it?
1. Chapter 1

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: As far as the groups' last names go, I'm going by the comic/cartoon. NOT the live action movie, which I did not care for._

It was a Friday morning when the Josie and the Pussycats' tour bus drove up to a large house by the beach. The band's manager, Alexander Cabot, III, stepped out of the bus.

"Well, gang, here it is," he said. "The Cabots' summer residence."

"Wow, Alex, this is really groovy!" the drummer, Melody Jones, replied.

"It's beautiful," the group's lead singer and guitarist, Josie James, said.

"It was really nice of your father to let us use it for the weekend," the group's tambourine player, Valerie Smith, replied.

"It would be a lot nicer," Alex's sister, Alexandra, grumbled, as she climbed off the bus. "If _I_ had the place all to myself, _without_ any of you here! Except Alan, of course."

Alan M. Mayberry, Josie's boyfriend, cleared his throat, and climbed off the bus. He, for one, was glad Josie and the others were around. He didn't like the idea of being alone _anywhere_ with Alexandra Cabot!

The last one to get off the bus was Alexandra's cat, Sebastian. He rubbed against Alexandra's legs and meowed, until Alexandra picked him up and began stroking his back.

"At least we get our own rooms," she said. "I won't have to share one."

"Except maybe with the cat," Alex teased. His sister threw him a dirty look.

Without another word, the gang walked into the house, and got ready to hit the beach. Valerie set up a beach chair and sat down with a book she had checked out from the library. Melody promptly took a plastic shovel and began putting sand into a plastic bucket.

"I'm going to build an entire sand kingdom!" she shouted, and then giggled.

Alex was standing on the shoreline with a fishing pole, trying to catch fish. Josie and Alan were throwing a beach ball back and forth to each other. Alexandra was stretched out on her stomach, laying on a beach towel. She reached behind her, and undid her bikini top so she wouldn't get tan lines.

"Oh Alan!" she called, flirtaciously. "Would you be a dear and rub some suntan oil on my back?"

"Ho boy," Alan groaned, rolling his eyes. Josie had to laugh.

"She never gives up, does she?" she asked. "Go humor her, Alan. It's okay."

Alan nodded, and tossed the ball back to Josie. Then he walked over to Alexandra, picked up her tube of suntain oil, and squeezed some into his hand, then he started rubbing it on Alexandra's back.

"Be sure to rub it in good, Alan, dear," Alexandra said, thouroughly enjoying her back massage. Josie looked over, and rolled her eyes.

"She's persistant," she told Sebastian who had wandered over. "I'll give her credit for that."

"Eh," Sebastian shrugged. He and Josie continued to watch Alan and Alexandra.

"I'll have to get some more oil, Alexandra," Alan said. "I'll be right back."

Alexandra smiled, and began to get comfortable. Sebastian looked over at her and snickered. He thought he'd have a little fun. He snuck over behind Alexandra, and began taking a little walk across her back.

"Oh, Alan, I didn't hear you coming," Alexandra said. Sebastian continued to walk up and down her back. Alexandra sighed contentedly.

"That's just the spot," she said. Sebastian began kneading the spot he was standing on.

"Alan, that's great," Alexandra sighed.

Sebastian snickered softly, so Alexandra wouldn't hear him. He was enjoying this. Then he started to lick her back. Alexandra giggled.

"Oh, Alan, you are an animal!" she shouted. "You're wonderful!"

"Alexandra?" Alan asked, walking over. Alexandra looked up.

"Who are you talking to?" Alan asked again.

Alexandra turned around, and saw Sebastian sitting on her back. She let out a scream. Sebastian jumped up and ran off. Alexandra jumped up and chased after him.

"Come back here, you furry bean bag!" she yelled. "Just wait until I get my hands on you!"

"Alexandra!" Alan called. "Wait a minute!"

Alexandra didn't listen. She kept running after her cat, wanting to wring his furry little neck. She finally cornered him by a fence.

"Gotcha!" she shouted. "Thought you could get away from me, huh? Well . . . "

"Alexandra!" Josie shouted, running over holding a towel. "There's something you should know!"

"What is it, Josie?!" Alexandra shouted, sounding impatient.

Josie leaned down and whispered something in Alexandra's ear. Alexandra looked down and screamed, covering her chest with her arms. Josie handed her the towel. Alexandra grabbed it, and wrapped it around herself as fast as she could.

"I know you want to make an impression, Sis, but I think going topless is a little much," Alex said, with a laugh.

"Very funny," Alexandra said, sarcastically. She turned back to the fence, and found that Sebastian had run off.

"Oooh!" she growled. "That darn cat!"


	2. Chapter 2

Alexandra stalked back to her towel to retrieve her bikini top. Then she went back to sunbathing. Sebastian decided to keep his distance from her, just in case. Instead, he wandered over to where Alan and Josie were continuing to toss their beach ball back and forth. Josie missed catching it, and the ball bounced of Sebastian's head.

"Rowr!" he shouted.

"Sorry, Sebastian," Josie said, retrieving the ball. She threw it to Alan. Sebastian followed it as the two of them threw it back and forth. He jumped up and down trying to catch it.

"Hey, come on, Sebastian," Alan said. "Give us a break!"

"I think Sebastian wants to play, too," Josie said with a laugh as she caught the ball. "Here you go, Sebastian."

Sebastian leaped into the air to catch the ball, but he missed it by a mile. He came crashing down on the sand. The ball rolled a little, and Sebastian jumped on it, claws outstretched.

POP!

Sebastian landed flat on his stomach, and he had flattened the ball as well. Josie and Alan came over and picked up their deflated ball.

"Nice going, Sebastian," Alan said, sarcastically. "Darn cat."

"Well, so much for our game," Josie said with a shrug. "Maybe we should talk to Alexandra about taking him to the V-E-T, and having him D-E-C-L-A-W-E-D."

Even though Josie had spelled it, Sebastian new exactly what she meant. He gulped and slunk away. He decided to go see what Valerie was up to. She was still sitting in her beach chair, reading her book. She was so engrossed in it, she didn't even see Sebastian coming, not until he jumped up in her lap.

"Oh, Sebastian," she said, jumping slightly. "You startled me."

"Mrow," Sebastian said, making himself comfortable in Valerie's lap.

"Avoiding Alexandra, huh?" Valerie said, knowingly. Sebastian nodded, and decided to take a "cat nap" for awhile.

Things got pretty quiet for awhile. Sebastian couldn't seem to "cat nap," because Valerie kept turning the pages in her book. The black and white feline found it highly annoying. When Valerie turned the next page, Sebastian swatted it back. Valerie tried turning the page again, and again, Sebastian flipped it back.

"Come on, Sebastian," Valerie said. "I'm trying to read."

Valerie kept on trying to turn the page, and Sebastian kept swatting them back. Finally, Sebastian swatted the book away from Valerie, and jumped off her lap. Then he picked up the book in his mouth. Valerie was not amused.

"Sebastian!" she shouted. Sebastian took off with the book. Valerie chased after him.

"Sebastian, come back here!" she shouted.

Sebastian ran for the shore line. When he realized the waves were rolling up to the shore, he tried to stop, but ended up skidding right into the water.

"Reeeeowwww!" he screeched, ultimately dropping the book out of his mouth, and into the water, where the waves swept it into the ocean.

"Oh Sebastian!" Valerie groaned. "Now look what you've done! Now I'll have to pay the library to replace that book! You darn cat!"

Sebastian walked away, like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. He perked up when he saw a flock of sandpipers pecking at the shore line. When a wave rolled in, they ran away from it. When the wave receded, the birds ran back and continued pecking into the sand. They kept running back and forth as the waves rolled. Sebastian went into "Stalker Mode," and tried to sneak up on the birds. He pounced, and the sandpipers took to the air, leaving Sebastian landing face first in the sand. He pulled his head out, and shook the sand out of his ears.

"Razzabrackenfrackencracken . . . ." he grumbled, much like Muttley from the "Dastardly and Muttley" series.

Suddenly, a huge wave crashed into the shore, and into Sebastian as well. The cat ran from the shoreline, much like the sandpipers he was trying to catch.

"Yeep!" he shouted. He sat down on the dry sand and breathed of relief. But the relief was short lived. He suddenly felt a pinch on his tail, and leaped into the air.

"MEEEOOOWWWWWWCH!" he screeched, and took off like a shot down the beach. Apparently, Sebastian had been sitting on the home of a crab, who did not care to have a furry visitor. And, as Sebastian was racing down the beach, the crab was still stuck on his tail!

Sebastian was running around in a frenzy, trying to shake the crab off his tail. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and he ended up kicking sand in every direction, including in Alexandra's face.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Oooh, you stupid cat!"

Sebastian didn't acknowledge her. He just kept running, yowling, and shaking his tail, trying desparately to get that crab to let go. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and ran directly for Melody, who was busy building her sand kingdom. She was so engrossed in that, she didn't even see Sebastian coming, until he plowed right into her completed sand castle, and demolished the rest of her sand village.

"My sand kingdom!" she shouted. By that time, Sebastian had shaken the crab off his tail. The crab scurried away, hiding under the sand. Sebastian began licking his tail, whimpering.

"Oh, Sebastian, how could you?!" Melody shouted. "Just look what you've done to my beautiful sand kingdom!"

All that was left of the sand kingdom was piles of sand. Melody looked like she was about to burst into tears. Josie and Valerie walked over to her.

"Don't cry, Melody," Josie said. "We'll help you start over."

"Right," Valerie said. "We'll make an even better sand kingdom."

"Thanks, you guys," Melody said, and she and her two best friends began to reconstruct the castle.

"Darn old Sebastian," she grumbled.

Sebastian went back to the shoreline to watch the sandpipers run back and forth, but this time he thought twice about catching them. He thought maybe he'd catch some fish, but luck wasn't with him, or Alex, for that matter. He hadn't caught a single fish all day.

"How's the fishing going, Alex?" Alan asked as he walked over.

"Not a bite all day," Alex said. "I'm thinking of throwing in the towel in a minute."

But before Alex could do anything, something tugged on his line.

"Uh oh," he said. "Looks like I've got something."

Alex tried to reel whatever he caught in, but it was putting up quite a fight. Alan grabbed on to the pole to help Alex reel it in. Sebastian watched, curious to see what they hooked. Alan and Alex pulled as hard as they could, and they managed to see what they had hooked.

"Holy mackerel!" Alex shouted. "We've hooked a swordfish!"

Upon hearing that, Sebastian licked his chops. Swordfish sounded mighty tasty to him. Unfortunately, Alan and Alex were having a little trouble reeling it in. Sebastian couldn't wait, and he ran over, trying to grab Alex's fishing line in order to reel the fish in himself.

"Sebastian! Wait a minute!" Alex shouted.

But it was no use. Sebastian jumped on the line. Alan and Alex lost their grip on the rod, and it flew out of their hands. It hit Sebastian in his behind, causing him to jump. The swordfish swam off, taking Alex's rod with it.

"Nice going, Sebastian," Alex said, sarcastically. "Not only did you lose the catch of the day, you also lost my fishing rod, and there goes dinner! Darn cat!"


	3. Chapter 3

Sebastian grumbled, and started back towards the house. The others followed. They'd had enough of the beach for one day.

"So what are we going to do for dinner?" Alan asked.

"Oh, don't worry, Alan," Josie said. "I'll fix us something."

"Great, Josie," Alan said.

"If anyone's going to cook anything for Alan," Alexandra said. "It'll be _me_! Besides, this is _my_ beach house!"

"Calm down, Alexandra," Valerie said. "We'll all do the cooking."

"Oh goody," Melody said with a giggle. "I'll make us peanut butter and banana sandwiches!"

"Hmph," Alexandra groused, but started into the kitchen after Josie, Valerie, and Melody anyway.

"Alexandra's cooking?" Alex asked. "Better go get a stomach pump."

"How would you like a knuckle sandwich for dinner, brother?" Alexandra threatened. Alex gulped, and said nothing more.

In the kitchen, Josie was mixing batter to make biscuits. Alexandra was doing the same, trying to show her up. Sebastian wandered in, to see what the girls were up to.

"I hope the boys like my grandmother's biscuits," Josie said.

"I'm sure they will," Valerie said. "Your grandmother makes the best biscuits I ever had Josie. They're practically lighter than air!"

Alexandra shot Josie a glare, and began to look for something to put in her own biscuits that would top Josie's. She opened the cupboard under the sink and found a small bag of cement powder. She decided to use this to make Josie look bad.

"Here, Sebastian," she said. "Take this cement powder and pour it into Josie's biscuit batter. We'll see if her biscuits are lighter than air after this!"

Sebastian took the bag and jumped up on the counter. Unfortunately, Josie's batter and Alexandra's batter were sitting right next to each other on the counter, and he couldn't figure out who's was who's. He shrugged, and just poured the cement powder into one of the bowls. Then he jumped off the counter with the bag.

About an hour later, the girls had dinner ready. Josie, Valerie, and Melody had cooked chicken while Alexandra had made steak. She had done everything herself.

"This really looks great, girls," Alan said.

"Thanks, Alan," Josie said. She took a biscuit out of her basket and handed it to Alan.

"Alan would rather have one of my biscuits, Josie-kins," Alexandra said, as she took one of her biscuits out of her own basket.

"Here you are, Alan dear," she said. "Biscuits made from Grandmother Cabot's secret recipe."

"Secret recipe?" Alex repeated. "I didn't know Grandmother Cabot had a secret recipe!"

"If everybody knew, then it wouldn't be a secret, dum-dum!" Alexandra shouted, impatiently. She dropped her biscuit on Alan's plate, and it practically cracked it. Alex took one, and tried to bite into it, but he couldn't. As a matter of fact, he nearly broke his teeth!

"Ow!" he shouted, massaging his jaw. "I can see why Grandmother Cabot kept this recipe a secret!"

Alexandra glared at her brother, and then shot a dirty look to her cat. Sebastian just snickered. Alexandra picked up one of her biscuits and hurled it at him. Sebastian ducked, and the biscuit made a dent in the wall.

"Ooohhhh!" Alexandra groaned. She looked like she was about ready to pop a vein.

"Well, don't throw them out, Sis," Alex said. "Come December, we can always take them up to Dad's winter place and use them as hockey pucks!"

"I'll hockey puck _you_ in a minute!" Alexandra shouted, ready to throw another one of her rock hard biscuits, this time at her brother. Valerie grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Calm down, Alexandra," she said. "Come on, let's all sit down and eat. We have two choices tonight. Josie, Melody, and I made chicken, and Alexandra made steak."

Alex and Alan glanced at each other, and then back to the girls.

"Chicken," they said in unison.

Alexandra grumbled a little, and then sat down. Josie went into the kitchen and came out with her chicken. As soon as she set it on the table, Sebastian pounced on it, grabbed it, and ran off with it in his mouth. When he stopped, he began tearing the meat off the chicken and swallowing it.

"Sebastian!" everybody else shouted.

"That . . . . that . . . . darn cat!" Josie shouted, frustratedly.

"Looks like we're having steak tonight," Alexandra said, almost gleefully. She got up from the table to get it. Josie followed her.

"Alexandra Cabot, did you put Sebastian up to that stunt?" she asked.

"Why, Josie, whatever makes you think that?" Alexandra asked, in an overly innocent voice.

"Give it a rest, Alexandra, I know your tricks!"

"All right, all right. No, I didn't put him up to stealing your stupid chicken. He did that by himself!"

Josie sighed, and left the kitchen. Alexandra brought out her steak and served everyone. The only problem with it was that it was nearly impossible to chew.

"I think you overcooked these, Alexandra," Alan said.

"Yeah, this is like eating shoe leather," Alex said, trying to tear off at least some of the piece of steak on his fork with his teeth.

"Golly, Alex, I didn't know you knew what shoe leather tastes like," Melody said.

"Oh brother," Valerie sighed.

Sebastian snickered. Alexandra shot him a dirty look.

After everyone managed to eat whatever they could, the Valerie, Josie, and Alexandra went into the den to find a good movie on TV. Melody volunteered to make the popcorn, while the boys did the dishes.

"This has been some day, huh?" Alan asked.

"You said it," Alex replied. "Between Sebastian and my sister, this really has been a . . . . . oooh!"

Alex stopped suddenly, and held his hand to his stomach for a minute. Alan and Melody looked over at him.

"Golly, are you all right, Alex?" Melody asked.

"Yeah, Melody, I'm fine," Alex said. "It's probably just indigestion from Alexandra's cooking. Every time I eat anything she cooks, I get stomach pains."

"Why don't you go into the den with the others?" Alan suggested. "Melody and I can finish up here."

"Okay, thanks, guys," Alex said. He left the kitchen, but stopped for a moment, and held his stomach.

"Oh boy," he groaned. "There must have definitely been something wrong with that steak!"

Sebastian followed Alex out of the kitchen and into the den. Valerie, Josie, and Alexandra were flipping through the channels, trying to find something good on. Alex sat down on the couch, and groaned.

"What's the matter with you?" Alexandra asked.

"Indigestion," Alex said. "You know I get indigestion every time I eat your cooking. Now you see why we needed a stomach pump?"

"You're a riot, Alexander," Alexandra said, sarcastically.

Melody and Alan came into the room a few minutes later, with popcorn and sodas. Valerie found a movie on TV that everyone agreed on watching. Sebastian sat on Alexandra's lap as they were watching the movie, but the cat's mind was not on the movie. He was paying more attention to Alex. Alex wasn't really paying any attention to the movie, either. It appeared he was paying more attention to his indigestion. Sebastian was beginning to sense something wasn't right. He got up from Alexandra's lap, and moved to Alex's.

"Ow!" Alex shouted as Sebastian pressed his paw into Alex's stomach. "Hey, watch it, Sebastian!"

Alex pushed Sebastian off his lap. Sebastian grumbled, and settled himself on the couch next to him. Alex began to scratch Sebastian behind the ears just then.

"That's better," he said. Then he groaned and held his stomach again.

"Are you sure you're all right, Alex?" Valerie asked.

"It's just indigestion," Alex insisted. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Why don't you go to bed?" Josie suggested. "You don't look very well."

"Yeah, you _do_ look pretty tired," Melody commented.

"Maybe you guys are right," Alex said. "I'm _not_ feeling so well. Hopefully this indigestion will go away by morning. It usually does."

The others nodded and went back to watching the movie. Alex walked down the hall to his room. Sebastian followed. If there was one thing he couldn't resist, it was taking a cat nap next to a warm body when the warm body was sleeping. He waited until Alex climbed into bed before he jumped up and made himself comfortable against him. Although something didn't still seem quite right to the feline. Alex was already fast asleep. Sebastian couldn't shake the feeling. He felt comfortable, nice and warm, even though Alex seemed to feel a bit warmer to the cat than he usually did when Sebastian curled up next to him. Sebastian figured he'd tell the others, or try to. He jumped off the bed, and ran down the hallway into the den. The others were still engrossed with the movie. Sebastian began jumping up and down in front of the TV, meowing.

"Down in front, Sebastian!" Alan shouted.

"Yeah, you dumb cat!" Alexandra yelled. "We're trying to watch the movie!"

Sebastian wasn't going to give up that easilly. He started meowing louder then.

"Shush, Sebastian!" Josie scolded. "You'll wake up Alexander! You know he's not feeling well!"

Sebastian grumbled, and went back to Alex's room. Alex was still sleeping, peacefully for the moment. Sebastian jumped onto the bed, and kneaded a spot by Alex's chest, still feeling something was wrong. He decided to ignore it, and go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't until a couple of hours later when Sebastian woke up. The others had gone to bed, and everyone was asleep. Sebastian couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Normally, he loved sleeping next to a warm body, but Alex seemed a bit too warm. Much too warm. Almost as if - no, Sebastian was sure of it - Alex was running a fever. He was also moaning in his sleep, about his stomach. Sebastian nudged Alex with his nose, but Alex didn't wake up. The cat did everything he could think of to wake up Alex, but nothing worked. Sebastian knew this wasn't just indigestion. He had to get the others.

Sebastian ran down the hall, and pushed his way into Melody's room. He figured she'd be the perfect person to wake up first. If he woke her up, she could wake the others up without them getting too angry. He jumped up on her bed, and began meowing frantically.

"Oh Sebastian," Melody mumbled. "Can't it wait until morning?"

Sebastian continued to meow frantically. Melody sighed, picked him up, and put him down on the floor.

"Please, Sebastian," she said with a yawn. "Be a good kitty cat."

Obviously, Melody wasn't going to help him. He decided to try Josie next. At least she'd know what he was trying to say. He wandered to her room and began meowing up a storm. Josie groaned.

"Sebastian, it's the middle of the night," she said. "Go away. I'm trying to sleep!"

Josie gently pushed Sebastian off the bed, turned on her side, and tried to go back to sleep. Sebastian grumbled. He went to Valerie next. After all, she was the smartest one in the group. She'd help him, he was sure of it. He walked into his room, jumped onto her bed, and shook her shoulder, meowing.

"Sebastian, not now," Valerie said. But Sebastian was persistant. He continued meowing in her ear, until Valerie finally picked him up by the scruff of his neck and set him down on the floor.

"Cut it out, Sebastian," she said.

Sebastian was starting to get a little frustrated. He figured Alan would help him out. The male of the human species often stuck together, he thought. He went into Alan's room and began meowing again. Alan swatted him away.

"Cool it, Sebastian," he said. "You'll wake up the whole neighborhood."

Sebastian left. There was only one person to go to now, and he wasn't looking forward to that. Alexandra. He walked into her room and jumped on her bed, meowing his head off. It was his last chance.

"Knock it off, Sebastian!" Alexandra shouted, pushing Sebastian off her bed. "I'm trying to get my beauty sleep!"

At times like this, Sebastian really wished he could speak English! He left the room, and thought of another tactic. He sat down in the middle of the hallway, and began imitating a siren at the top of his lungs.

"Oh for goodness sakes, Sebastian!" Valerie shouted.

"Come on, Sebastian, give us a break!" Alan called.

"Shut up, you stupid cat!" Alexandra yelled.

"Be quiet, Sebastian!" both Josie and Melody called out.

Sebastian kept his siren going, until Alexandra flung a pillow at him. The force of her throw sent him hurling into the wall, where he landed with a CRASH!

"That'll shut him up," Alexandra said. "Now go to bed, you fur-brained feline!"

Every last one of them slammed their doors shut. Sebastian grumbled, and went back into Alex's room. Alex was still sleeping, moaning about his stomach. Sebastian had to take matters into his own hands. Or rather paws. He dashed out of the bedroom, and down the hall into the den. He jumped up on one of the end tables, grabbed the phone, and used his claw to dial 911. Once he got the operator on the phone, he started meowing frantically again.

"Hey, Bill," the operator said, turning to another. "You're not gonna believe this, but there's a cat on the phone."

"A cat?!" Bill shouted. "You gotta be kidding me, Joe!"

"Probably knocked it off the hook," Joe said, shrugging.

Sebastian heard the conversation and began his siren imitation again. It was the only way he could think of to get the operator's attention to let them know this was an urgent situation.

"Hold it a sec, Bill," Joe said. "This cat's imitating a siren. I'm beginning to think it has an emergency on it's hands . . . err, paws. Okay cat, here's what I want you to do. Meow once for yes, twice for no, got it?"

"Meow!" Sebastian cried into the phone.

"Do you need the police?"

"Mew, mew."

"The fire department?"

"Mew, mew."

"An ambulance?"

"Meow!"

"Okay, an ambulance." Joe turned over to Bill. "Help me trace this call. This cat sounds urgent."

"Gotcha," Bill nodded, and he and Joe got right to work.

Sebastian jumped off the table and began pacing back and forth around the room. He called an ambulance, sure, but there was still the problem of opening the door. Sebastian may have been a clever cat, but he wasn't _that_ clever. He had to wake the others up and get them out of bed. He knew they weren't going to respond to him howling and yowling. He needed a different approach. He thought about it, and finally had an idea.

Sebastian creeped into Alexandra's room, took her ponytail in his paws, and pulled as hard as he possibly could.

"Yeow!" Alexandra shouted, bolting upright in her bed. She looked at Sebastian and growled.

"Oooh, you over grown hairball!" she yelled. "Wait'll I get my hands on you!"

Sebastian took off while Alexandra climbed out of bed and started chasing him. He ducked into Josie's room before Alexandra could catch him. He jumped onto Josie's dresser and began knocking things off it. Josie woke up and looked over, just in time to see Sebastian drawing a picture of a cat on the wall with her lipstick.

"Oh Sebastian!" she shouted. Josie got up, and Sebastian took off before she could catch him.

Sebastian's next stop was Valerie's room. He jumped on her bed, and on her back.

"Mow, mow, mow, mow, mow!" he chanted (that is pronounced "ow" with an M in front of it, for those keeping score).

"That does it," Valerie groaned, getting up, and getting annoyed. "Come here, Sebastian!"

Sebastian darted off into Alan's room next. He crawled under the covers, and clawed Alan right in the leg.

"Ow!" Alan shouted, as he jolted to attention, just in time to see Sebastian beat a hasty retreat into the hallway.

"That darn cat!" he shouted as he got up.

Sebastian dove into Melody's room, and grabbed her teddy bear in his mouth. Melody woke up, and tried to grab it back.

"Sebastian, give me back my teddy bear," she said, trying to remain calm.

Sebastian growled like a mighty hunter. Melody grabbed hold of the bear and tried to pull it away. She and Sebastian got into a tug of war, which ended when the bear's head was torn off it's body.

"Oh Sebastian!" Melody shouted. "Look what you've done now!"

Sebastian darted out of the room with Melody hot on his tail. The others saw her chase after the cat, and followed. As a final blow, Sebastian went down to the main hallway, where the Pussycats' instruments were. He jumped on the drums and began banging his paws on the cymbals. Then he jumped on Josie's guitar, pulling at the strings. Then he beat his paws against Valerie's tambourines, and started all over again on Melody's drums, all the time caterwauling. It was driving the others crazy.

"SEBASTIAN!" all five of them screamed at the tops of their lungs. Sebastian immediately stopped. Alexandra stormed over and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"That's _it_!" she yelled, shaking him a little. "First thing tomorrow morning, this flea bag is getting a free trip to the city pound!"

"Honestly, Sebastian," Valerie groaned, sleepily. "What's the matter with you?"

Sirens filled the air just then. Alexandra groaned.

"Oh great," she said. "The stupid cat must've woken up the entire block and someone called the police!"

"They must be coming to arrest us all," Melody said, looking out the window. "They're driving a big, white truck."

"Big white truck?" Josie repeated, and she looked out the window. "That's not the police, it's an ambulance! And they're stopping here!"

Two technicians got out of the ambulance and walked up to the front door. Alexandra opened it before they got a chance to knock.

"What do you want at this time of night?" she asked.

"Oh, honestly, Alexandra!" Josie shouted.

"We got an emergency call from this address from a cat," one of the technicans said.

"A cat?" Valerie asked. Then they all turned to face their furry friend.

"Sebastian!" they all shouted, in a scolding tone.

"I've told the cat a million times not to play with the phone!" Alexandra shouted.

Sebastian grumbled for a moment or so, and then ran to the technicians, meowing and jumping up and down, trying to lead them down the hall. He ran off, and the technicians followed.

"You know," Melody said, suddenly. "With all this noise going on, I'm kind of surprised Alex can be sleeping through all this."

Once the gang realized what Melody had just said, they raced down the hall after Sebastian and the two technicians as fast as they could. Sebastian was sitting on the bed, while Alex was moaning like crazy. The two technicians were loading him onto a stretcher.

"You guys are making a pretty big deal over a little indigestion," Alexandra commented.

"Ma'am, this isn't indigestion," the second technician explained. "This looks like appendicitis. We've got to get him to the hospital fast!"

"Appendi-_what_?!" Alexandra shouted.

"That's when your appendix gets inflamed," Valerie said. "They're taking Alex to the hospital so they can remove it before it ruptures."The two technicans wheeled the stretcher out to the ambulance, leaving the others just standing there, dumbfounded.

"Oh, poor Alex!" Josie shouted. "Imagine having appendicitis! I can't believe we thought it was just indigestion!"

"We'd better get down to the hospital," Valerie said. "I hope the doctors are able to get Alex's appendix out in time."

"What in the world is an appendix, anyway?" Alexandra asked, sounding impatient.

"I think that's a list at the end of a book," Melody said, giggling.

"No Melody," Josie said. "We'll explain everything on the way to the hospital."

"Let's go, cats!" Alan said, and the five of them rushed to change clothes, and then out to the bus. Alan practically had the pedal to the metal.


	5. Chapter 5

Hours later, Alex woke up, feeling extremely disoriented.

"Oh boy," he groaned, as he started to sit up. "What a night."

"Lie back down, Alex," Josie said, as she and Melody pushed him back down.

"Yeah, you've just had surgery," Melody replied.

"Surgery?!" Alex shouted, shooting back up. Josie and Melody pushed him back down again.

"Calm down, Alex, and we'll explain," Valerie said. "Your indigestion last night turned out to be appendicitis. The doctors had to take your appendix out right away."

"They got it out in time," Alan said. "Any later, and it would have ruptured."

"Appendicitis?" Alex said. "But how did you guys figure out it was appendicitis and not indigestion?"

"We didn't," Josie said. "But Sebastian sure did!"

"Yeah, he kept trying to get us up all night," Alexandra said, stroking Sebastian's back. "We thought he was just being annoying, considering all the trouble he caused yesterday!"

Sebastian meowed, and jumped out of Alexandra's arms, onto Alex's hospital bed. He made himself comfortable and sat down. Alex started to scratch his ears.

"So, what's the story on this appendix thing?" he asked. "I mean, I'm gonna be okay, right?"

"Don't worry, Alex," Josie said. "The doctor said you'll be fine in a week or so."

"You're lucky Sebastian knew what was happening," Valerie said. "If he hadn't called nine-one-one, that appendix of yours would have ruptured, and you definitely wouldn't have made it."

"I guess I owe a lot to Sebastian," Alex said. "You know how they say that the dog is man's best friend? Well, this cat is definitely this man's best friend!"

"Let's hear it for Sebastian!" Melody shouted. "The most heroic cat in the world!"

"Yaaaayyyy!" everyone cheered, and applauded.

Sebastian just sat there, and snickered.

The End


End file.
